The sixth major release of Internet Explorer is still amazingly popular these days

Mar 8, 2013 10:05 GMT  ·  By

More than 11 years ago, Microsoft officially introduced Internet Explorer 6, a major reworked version of its in-house browser that packed a long list of improvements. For that time, that is.

Fast forward to 2013 and Internet Explorer 6 is still one of the most popular browsers in the entire world. According to data released by Net Applications, IE6 is the fifth browser right now when it comes to market share, as it’s installed on 6.33 percent of computers worldwide.

Unsurprisingly, it’s also one of the applications that will receive critical software updates next week as part of Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday cycle released every month.

IE6 is apparently affected by a major vulnerability on Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems.

The question, on the other hand, still remains: why are so many people still using a browser that’s 11 years old?